By Ted Sares: Librado Andrade set the mood in the opener by systematically taking apart Robert Stieglitz with crunching uppercuts and great body work until he finally caught him in the eight stanza with a jarring right and immediately jumped on him with a savage fury ending matters decisively. It was an all-action fight.
In the main event and with the excitement level at fever pitch, the all-action lightweight brawler from down under was shocked early by “El Cepillo” (which, by the way, translates to uppercut) who decked the tough Greek twice with left hands. It was appeared early this could well be a repeat of Diaz-Campbell, as Casamayor looked razor sharp in the first round.
Katsidis settled down some in the second but was still cautious and tentative as this clearly was not the same Cuban stylist who fought Santa Cruz. This time, Casamayor had snap in his punches, threw nice counters and was quick afoot. In the third, Katsidis finally landed some effective punches but still ate a lot of lefts.
Then it happened. In the fourth, Katsidis finally won The Cuban’s respect. As he staggered Casamayor in what had now become a barnburner.
In the fifth, it was Casamayor’s time to fight cautiously as the brawler backed him up and imperceptibly, the momentum seemed to shift. This continued until the seventh until Katsidis knocked Casamayor out of the ring with a crunching right but a brutal body shot has started things.
Still, Casamayor remain motivated and showed a great chin as he took heavy bombs, but clearly, the train was now coming. The heat was on going into the eighth.
Katsidis kept wading in and pressuring “El Cepillo” with a variety of shots forcing him to clinch. The body work seemed to be taking its toll on Joel.
Going into the ninth, my cards showed Katsidis ahead but just slightly. Then a point was taken away from Casamayor. But Casamayor showed nice movement and sharp lefts to Katsidis’s face and likely evened the round.
In the tenth, sudden lightening struck as Casamayor clocked The Great with a savage left counter that put him down like he had been sapped. When he got up it was simply a matter of time before the fight would be stopped– and it was–properly.
Yes, this was Diaz -Campbell, but in spades. All props to Joel “El Cepillo” Casamayor who answered a lot of questions and who showed the world what he is made of.
Wow!